1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to satellite position location systems and, more particularly, to monitoring the integrity of satellite tracking data used by a remote receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers use measurements from several satellites to compute position. GPS receivers normally determine their position by computing time delays between transmission and reception of signals transmitted from satellites and received by the receiver on or near the surface of the earth. The time delays multiplied by the speed of light provide the distance from the receiver to each of the satellites that are in view of the receiver. The GPS satellites transmit to the receivers satellite-positioning data, so called “ephemeris” data. In addition to the ephemeris data, the satellites transmit to the receiver absolute time information associated with the satellite signal, i.e., the absolute time signal is sent as a second of the week signal. This absolute time signal allows the receiver to unambiguously determine a time tag for when each received signal was transmitted by each satellite. By knowing the exact time of transmission of each of the signals, the receiver uses the ephemeris data to calculate where each satellite was when it transmitted a signal. Finally, the receiver combines the knowledge of satellite positions with the computed distances to the satellites to compute the receiver position.
More specifically, GPS receivers receive GPS signals transmitted from orbiting GPS satellites containing unique pseudo-random noise (PN) codes. The GPS receivers determine the time delays between transmission and reception of the signals by comparing time shifts between the received PN code signal sequence and internally generated PN signal sequences.
Each transmitted GPS signal is a direct sequence spread spectrum signal. The signals available for commercial use are provided by the Standard Positioning Service. These signals utilize a direct sequence spreading signal with a 1.023 MHz spread rate on a carrier at 1575.42 MHz (the L1 frequency). Each satellite transmits a unique PN code (known as the C/A code) that identifies the particular satellite, and allows signals transmitted simultaneously from several satellites to be received simultaneously by a receiver with very little interference of any one signal by another. The PN code sequence length is 1023 chips, corresponding to a 1 millisecond time period. One cycle of 1023 chips is called a PN frame. Each received GPS signal is constructed from the 1.023 MHz repetitive PN pattern of 1023 chips. At very low signal levels, the PN pattern may still be observed, to provide unambiguous time delay measurements, by processing, and essentially averaging, many PN frames. These measured time delays are called “sub-millisecond pseudoranges”, since they are known modulo the 1 millisecond PN frame boundaries. By resolving the integer number of milliseconds associated with each delay to each satellite, then one has true, unambiguous, pseudoranges. The process of resolving the unambiguous pseudoranges is known as “integer millisecond ambiguity resolution”.
A set of four pseudoranges together with the knowledge of the absolute times of transmissions of the GPS signals and satellite positions at those absolute times is sufficient to solve for the position of the GPS receiver. The absolute times of transmission are needed in order to determine the positions of the satellites at the times of transmission and hence to determine the position of the GPS receiver. GPS satellites move at approximately 3.9 km/s, and thus the range of the satellite, observed from the earth, changes at a rate of at most ±800 m/s. Absolute timing errors result in range errors of up to 0.8 m for each millisecond of timing error. These range errors produce a similarly sized error in the GPS receiver position. Hence, absolute time accuracy of 10 ms is sufficient for position accuracy of approximately 10 m. Absolute timing errors of much more than 10 ms will result in large position errors, and so typical GPS receivers have required absolute time to approximately 10 milliseconds accuracy or better.
It is always slow (no faster than 18 seconds), frequently difficult, and sometimes impossible (in environments with very low signal strengths), for a GPS receiver to download ephemeris data from a satellite. For these reasons, it has long been known that it is advantageous to send satellite orbit and clock data to a GPS receiver by some other means in lieu of awaiting the transmission from the satellite. This technique of providing satellite orbit and clock data, or “aiding data”, to a GPS receiver has become known as “Assisted-GPS” or A-GPS.
Aiding data within an A-GPS system may be short term data, such as information to assist in satellite signal acquisition, medium term data, such as ephemeris data, or long term data, such as groups of ephemeris or other types of long term satellite orbit and clock models (generally referred to as “satellite tracking data”). For example, satellite signal acquisition assistance data is typically valid for several minutes; satellite ephemeris data is typically valid for a few hours; and long term orbit and clock data may be valid for a few days. A remote receiver may then use the aiding data to acquire satellite signals and, in some cases, compute position. Between the time that the aiding data is delivered and the time that the aiding data is used by the remote receiver, it is possible that the satellite orbit/clock data upon which the aiding data was based becomes invalid. For example, the clock within a given satellite may have drifted outside the expected range, or the orbit of a given satellite may have changed beyond the expected range. If the remote receiver uses previously obtained aiding data that is associated with invalid satellite orbit/clock data, a computed device position may be in error by a significant amount.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a method and apparatus that monitors the integrity of satellite aiding data delivered to remote receivers in an assisted position location system.